


Words, Nerves and Cigarettes

by Phantom_traveler



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: A+ Parenting, Anxiety, BAMF Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Billy Hargrove & Maxine "Max" Mayfield Have a Good Relationship, Billy Hargrove Redemption, Brotherly Steve Harrington & Dustin Henderson, Dustin Henderson Is the Best, Dyslexia, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gay Will Byers, Gen, Good Babysitter Steve Harrington, Harringrove, Hurt/Comfort, I DON'T OWN ANYTHING, I don't know how to tag but this is fun, M/M, Max's general Badassery, Mike yells a lot, Other, Panic Attacks, Past implied Bullying, Pre-Harringrove, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Pretty Graphic Anxiety Attack, Protective Dustin Henderson, Smoking, Steve Harrington Needs a Hug, Steve Harrington's Father Being an Asshole, Steve's PTSD, Steve's Parents Are Assholes, Will Byers Deserves Love, Will is a precious baby beetle, and so is his mom, but Billy's good, cause it's basically cannon now, no beta we die like men, poor blushing baby, pretty cannon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:28:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23741560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantom_traveler/pseuds/Phantom_traveler
Summary: His dad certainly made sure he understood just how stupid and incompetent and Jesus, Steven, you’re so damn lazy why can’t you just apply yourself, son? he was
Relationships: Billy Hargrove & Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Billy Hargrove & Steve Harrington, Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington, Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler, Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair, Steve Harrington & Dustin Henderson
Comments: 18
Kudos: 242





	Words, Nerves and Cigarettes

**Author's Note:**

> Hiiii!!!! So, this is for the wonderful @liglitterbug to whom I promised a story for a prompt for helping me out and finding me that story I was looking for obsessively. The prompt was basically h/c and dyslexic Steve with Harringrovre which is like, one my favourite things EVER!! This is pre-slash. There are a couple anxiety attack scenes that are pretty graphic. More warnings in the tags.
> 
> Without further ado here we go!!

Okay. So Steve knew he wasn’t the smartest guy in the block. He knew that he was surrounded by people who could think circles around him on any given topic okay? He knew that. And he wasn’t bitter. No he had accepted long ago, when Mrs Johnson asked him to read out loud in 6th grade and he almost had a damn panic attack and had to feign feeling lightheaded- which honestly, not that much feigning there- that school and all that academic mambo jumbo just wasn’t for him.

His dad certainly made sure he understood just how _stupid_ and _incompetent_ and _Jesus, Steven, you’re so damn lazy why can’t you just apply yourself, son_? he was. Back when he was still young enough that his parents missing parent-teacher night would be frowned upon in the polite company of Hawkin’s upper class, a couple of his teachers would throw around, in lower tones, like a dirty little secret, words like _testing_ and _dyslexia_ and _it’s not his fault, it’s just...his brain._ That was always sure to get his father going and start threatening in hushed tones about incompetent teachers and funding and _do you even know how to work with kids, he’s just damn lazy._ So eventually the teachers stopped mentionning it. He never forgot that word though.

He looked it up in the school library one day when Tommy and Carol where to occupied sucking each other’s faces and too high to notice him gone anyway. He thought he might have it. Dyslexia that is. It made sort of sense anyway, as much as anything could make sense in his head, especially these days. The book said things like jumbled words and trouble reading and spelling and backwards letters like b and d...or d and b. Something anyway. And it all felt pretty familiar and it was comforting for a while, cause the book also had this section about coping mechanisms. Sounding the words out slowly, or spelling them or writing them down. Having someone read to him worked the best though and when Carol was in a giving enough mood and Tommy wasn’t around and he widened his eyes and pouted his lips _just_ enough, she’d read the homework out loud to him. And then Nancy came.

Sweet, understanding, beautiful, _smart_ Nancy who was determined to help him make sense of his stupid brain. She’d read to him and show him how to take notes so he’d need the books less and explain to him stuff that he _just couldn’t get_. But then their world turned literally upside down and school kinda went into the back and Nancy left him and then he had the kids to take care of, because he had to keep them safe, _he had to_. God knows he couldn’t help with anything else. So he patrolled the woods and picked them up and from wherever those little nerds- _geniuses_ \- were everyday. Cause he could do that at least. He wasn’t like Dustin who was the smartest person he had ever known, who had a science based explanation for everything.Or Nancy and Jonathan and Hopper who connected all the dots and where always, like, _fifteen_ steps ahead of him.Or Mike who always had a plan for every damn contnigency.

Mike, who was currently looking at him like he bit into something sour-which honestly was turning into the kid’s default expression right along with those eyes that he was currently rolling at him and Jesus his face was gonna get stuck like that and then he would- Jesus _dammit_ Steve **_focus_** **.** He tried to go back on his train of thought, which, honestly more like a trainwreck of a thought, and figure out why Mike was currently making _that_ face at him.

“Jesus Christ, Steve, are you gonna ever roll or fucking what?” exclaimed the kid and-

“ Hey, _language-”_ Steve started saying and _oh my god what happened to him_ , before he remembered that they were playing the nerds’ stupid game Gorgons and Caves or what the fuck ever. Which you know. Speaking of trainwrecks. So he rolled and landed a fourteen and Mike started spouting of some bullshit that he couldn’t hope to understand even if he was focused _and_ not sleep deprived, which speaking of, Jesus he hadn’t slept more than five hours since Wednesday, and what day was it again and-

“ Oh my God, Dude are you fucking stupid? We’ve explained this a thousand fucking times, just read your damn character sheet and make a stupid move, _come on_!!” Which, okay _ouch_ , Mike fuck you very much, he didn’t even wanna play the stupid game, but Dustin was begging and the kid thinks he’s _cool_ and he can’t say no to him and-

“Oh, my God Mike can you just fucking chill he was probably bored of your stupid voice-” Max started yelling and there was that word again _stupid, stupid,_ ** _stupid_** , and the kids were yelling now and-

“Okay, _Okay,_ Jesus, hold your damn panties, Wheeler, here.” he pulled his character sheet off the floor where he had let it drop during the kids’ last yelling match, jesus do they _yell_ , and he squinted at the page. “ Okay, so, umm...I...umm, I have that back up spell right? So I, ah, I’m gonna give that to Will...?” he trailed off, lifting his eyes to look at the rest of the kids around the table.

“Oh my God, Steve come on you have to _read_ the spell, _come on.”_ Mike said while heaving a big, great, sigh. “ See I told you guys, he wouldn’t get it, he’s only slowing us down-”

“Jesus, Mike shut up! How can he read if you’re always yelling at him, he’s new at this and just needs some time to concentrate, not everyone’s brain works the same. Come on buddy just read the spell like we practiced,” Dustin turned his big eyes at him and gave him that damn ridiculous smile and Jesus that’s were he’s at right now, his best friend is also his cheerleader and his mom who is also _a fucking thirteen year old._

He looked back down at the sheet and tried to read the stupid spell, but he couldn’t find where the damn word _was_ , and the letters were dancing all over the page, and none of the words made sense anyway and he couldn’t sound them out, never mind spelling them and, was that an upside down question mark what the fuck? Oh wait no that’s an f, the spell started with an f- right?

“Okay, umm, I wanna give Will, a fu-, an umm, a fra..for,” He was stuttering, he knew he was stuttering, _goddammit,_ and he was starting to sweat, the back of his neck was on fire, and there was no air in this stupid basement, and none of the words made sense, and his stupid brain couldn’t process anything, and his leg was jittering and his nails were digging into the meat of his palm were he had his hand fisted on his lap,

and the kids were all _looking at him,_

and Mike was _rolling his eyes,_

_a_ nd Dusting was looking at him _all supportive like,_

and Max was looking at him like _she knew,_ and her moth was forming a soft, quiet _oh,_

and _he couldn’t_ ** _breathe_** _._

_Out. He_ **_needed_ ** _out,_ **_NOW_ ** _._

He stood up abruptly, his knees knocking into the low wooden table they were playing on, almost knocking Mike’s book fortress on the floor, and he was getting tunnel vision, his hands fumbled in his pockets, searching for the cigarettes he wasn’t carrying anymore, cause it wasn’t good for the kids and-

“ Umm, I’m just,..I’m just gonna go get some... get some water,isn’t it...isn’t it hot in here, get some umm some air” he stuttered out, hand finding the nearest wall, stumbling his way towards the staircase, damn it _all_ to fucking _hell_ why _stairs?_

“ What?!” Dustin exclaimed “Steeeeve, come on it was just about to get good-”

He cut Dustin off “ Anybody want anything?” he rushed out, the words coming out with a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. He risked a glance round the table and saw Max looking at him like she understood, and she nodded her head at him toward the stairs.

“ I want some juice” She said calmly. 

Mike opened his mouth as if to argue, and she must have seen something on Steve’s face cause she was turning toward the boy, with a thunderous expression on her face and-

“ Oh My God, Mike! What the hell is your problem, he gave the damn spell to Will, just go on, you little asshole-” and that girl deserved the _world_.

He could hear Mike’s screech of indignation as he flayed his way up the stairs, opened the door and exited that stupid, suffocating basement, trying to catch his breath, as he made his way towards the front door, mostly blindly, mainly on instinct, feeling like his face was on fire and his hands were shaking and 

_stupid, stupid, stupid_ , you panic because of a game with fucking _pre-teens_ , what the _hell_ is _wrong with you_ , you **_stupid_** \- stuttered breath-

**_pathetic_** \- just a couple more steps-

**_useless_** \- his hand was on the handle-

**_embarrassing_** -he wrenched the door open- 

-and promptly run into a wall.

“Jesus fuck, what the Hell?!” Someone exclaimed, as hands went on his bicep and hip steading him, his arms trapped between them, hands on a firm chest, half-clutching an open shirt, mostly pawing at warm, golden skin, golden necklace catching on the reflecting porchlight, his stupid brain going a mile a minute-

- _oh_ ** _hell._**

He raised his eyes, meeting twin night sky blue pools- _no_ , no wait not pools, pools were _bad_ and _death_ and _guilt_ and _monsters_ and **_we killed he_** -

“ Okay there amigo?” Billy asked, eyebrow raised, arms still holding him, burning, scorching him, and his breath hit his face, smelling strongly like cigarette smoke and faintly of something sweet, saccharin, snapping him back to the moment and J _esus_ , they were standing _so_ close, practically sharing air, that Steve couldn’t take in and he was _burning_ and

“ _Yougotanysmokes?_ ” he rushed out, and tried to swallow, throat working, while he was still trying to draw breath, which was maybe a little easier now, with Billy’s scorching, rough hands feeling like a brand on the skin of his arm and the sliver of skin where the fabric of his shirt had bunched up on his hip, where Billy was still steading, _grounding_ him.

“I sure do” he said stepping back, taking his hands and all their fire away, second eyebrow climbing up to meet the first. “Wanna bum one, King?” he said, devil’s smirk appearing, making the statement sound suggestive, 

_smug asshole_ , Steve thought.

“Umm, ye- yeah.” He got out, clearing his throat and looking everywhere but at Billy. 

“ They’re in the car.” He turned around, making towards the Camaro, and of course they were. Where would he even keep them on him, it was finally warm enough that jackets weren’t a necessity and he must be barely able to breathe in those jeans, never mind shove things down the pockets- J _esus_ ,Steve, **_focus_** he thought to himself aggressively, blushing again, and heart stuttering, for entirely different reasons that he wasn’t examining too closely right now cause seriously fuck _that_.

He looked back and found Billy looking at him over his shoulder, devil smirk still there, porchlight and moonlight catching on his curls and on the angles of his face making him look like one of those marble statues in his history book, if you looked past that infuriating smirk and that glint in his eyes that spelled only trouble.

“You coming, or am I fetching them and lighting one for you, _King Steve_?” he drawled slowly, tongue appearing and glistening while wetting his lips.

_does that thing ever stay inside his mouth?_ he thought and then snapped back to himself, shaking his head to clear it, and started to move towards the car.

“Yeah, no, ah, yeah, yeah I’m coming.” he said and Billy hummed behind his smirk and turned back around and made for the driver’s side, Steve following him this time, heart still beating faster than it should be and the previous anxiety and panic that chased him away from the kids and that damn basement still simmering in the forefront of his thoughts. 

By the time he had reached him Billy had already got his packet out, and had a cigarette dangling on his lips, driver’s door shut, the hand with the packet extended towards Steve, while the other held his lighter, as he made his way towards the front of the car.

When he reached Steve, Billy got between him and the bumper of the car. Steve swallowed on reflex while Billy’s arms reached behind him and he leaned back on them, hips jutting out and the fabric of his sleeves straining, and then he gave a small jump, landing on the hood of the Camaro with a grace that Steve would hardly possess in general, never mind now with his nerves wrecked as they were.

Billy lied back on the hood of his car, golden/sliver curls creating a hallo around his head, eyes closed and smoke going up, _up ,up_ from the cigarette Steve didn’t even notice him lighting up, arms going behind his head, knees bent and exposed torso shining. 

_He looks like a giant cat_. Steve thought as he saw him stretch and hum, shiny midnight blue hood contrasting against the reds and golds of his skin and clothes.

He turned his head slightly towards Steve’s general direction, his eyes opened half-hooded and hazy behind the smoke of his cigarette. The cigarette he was now grinning around, the jackass. More like a lion then. Or a tiger, but definitely a predator, instead of a house pet. Like Mews 2.. or was it Tews? The one the monster didn’t eat anyway and _nope_. Nope. Nope. Not thinking about _that_ right now. No. 

Steve, still trying to avoid that anxiety attack he has been trying to restrain since Mike opened his stupid mouth and his stupid brain stopped working, let out a quiet breath and rolled his eyes, when Billy lifted one eyebrow again and glanced at the packet now lying on the hood of the car next to his hip.

He reached for the packet and pulled a cigarette out, rolling it across his lips, before setting it in the middle while he searched for the lighter he still always carried on him. He lit it up, put the lighter away, safely inside his jeans’ pocket, got the cigarette back in his fingers and climbed next to Billy on the hood. He looked toward the other boy but Billy’s eyes were closed again, smoke slowly drifting up, up, _up_ from his blowing mouth, so he mimed his stance and laid back. One hand pillowing his head, but he didn’t close his eyes, opting instead to turn to the boy next to him. 

He looked like he was sunbathing in the moonlight, greedy even with light, drawing toward him any light source there was in the bleakness of the early Midwest spring, sucking it all in or maybe better, _absorbing_ it, and while he was watching mesmerized the rise and fall of his naked, sculpted chest, Steve wondered, when exactly, sitting in silence with Billy Hargrove, became the silent comfort of his mess of a life.

It was comfortable now. It wasn’t comfortable at the start. Not for Steve at least. He pushed through the nerves and the wariness and yes, _the fear_ , cause Billy Hargrove wasn’t the only stubborn bastard, this side of the country. But he was dangerous. And as much as Steve liked to tell the kids that the demon dogs from Hell were by far the sole scary thing that night, he could admit it. Quietly. To himself. In the privacy of his jumbled, stupid head that Billy’s rage and raw, unstoppable force of power and anger that night were just us terrifying.

But he apologized. And Steve hadn’t slept well since October of _last_ year and he just didn’t have the energy to hold a grudge. He was never good at it anyway. So he nodded his head and mumbled a ‘ _whatever dude’_ and looked away. But the asshole wouldn’t leave, and then he offered him a cigarette and Nancy _hated_ those and they weren’t _good_ for the kids, but he hadn’t slept in _ages_ and he remembered what the burn of nicotine felt like when it travelled down his lungs and suddenly he found himself unable to say anything but _yes._

So he started smoking with Billy Hargrove. While waiting on the kids if the weather was good. After practice sometimes. And it was nice. It quieted his head. Cause Billy was very calm when he wasn’t raging and halfway out of his goddamned mind. Or maybe not calm, exactly, cause he was always there, like, like a palpable energy, like...like what the sea must be like not still itself but calming for you like the open ocean. The ocean that Steve had never seen but Billy was missing like a phantom limb, the ocean he decided to carry along with him to the dry, dirty Midwest, that stole it from him.

He took another breath, filling his lungs with smoke that burned. Burned but not like the fire in the tunnels burning something to death alive, or like **_bullshit_** or **_like we’re in love_** or like his eyes did when he was trying to make it up the stairs, like ** _stupid_** , **_stupid_** , **_stupid_** , **_cotton-mouth_** , ** _stutters_** , like Max’s eyes on the back of his burning neck. Not like Billy’s hands on his skin. He exhaled slowly. Letting the smoke drift out into the night. Closed his eyes.

“You good now?” Billy’s low baritone, broke the silence, snapping Steve out of his head. He opened his eyes and looked at the other boy who had, at some point turned his head towards him, eyebrow raised again and eyes inquiring but tone surprisingly -or maybe not- not mocking.

“I..ah..eghem” Steve cleared his throat “ Yeah. Yeah I’m fine” he said all the while looking at Billy, cheshire, catlike smirk slowly spreading across face.

“ That you are alright, pretty boy.” He said in that tone he always used to charm girls and moms and teachers, and Steve turned his head away looking back up at the sky and thanked God for the darkness that hopefully would cover the fire in his face. This shit was getting tiring, what the hell was _wrong_ with him- 

“ But are you okay?” Billy asked again snapping Steve out of his thoughts that were going downhill for the millionth time that night. The sincerity in his voice threw Steve off for a second and he turned to look at him and found it in equal measures on his face. He swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat and wondered for the hundredth time since Billy Hargrove’s Heartfelt Apology Tour of 1985 how exactly he had managed to find yet another person who could see right through him. 

“I’m gonna be” He said surprisingly heartfelt and sincerely. Quietly. Billy’s eyes searched his face for a second, trying to find signs of dishonesty or maybe something else entirely. He slowly blew the smoke he was holding out and as it danced across his face while it was traveling up, _up, up_ to meet the moon whose rays Billy was bathing in, his expression softened and his lips ticked up minutely in a smile so soft and almost... almost _tender_ and Steve’s breath caught in his chest again in a different, surprisingly more welcome, flattering,butterfly like panic.

A second, a breath, less than a _heartbeat_ later Billy seemed to have found whatever answers to whatever questions he was searching for in Steve’s face. He nodded slowly. Curtly. And he turned his face back towards the moonlight rays that went back to licking the sharp planes of his cheekbones casting shadows from his eyelashes. Claiming him as theirs.

He hummed. 

He exhaled.

“ I need to get Max back to the house.” He said with an apologetic sort of finality.

And whatever spell the moonlight and the smoke and the ocean, midnight blue of the Camaro had cast was broken.

He made to get up and Steve almost lost his balance with how quickly he made to get up. Because in a twisted superstition he believed in, in that moment that if he was the one to get up, maybe-

maybe time would freeze. Maybe he would be able to preserve the image or whatever mirage the moonlight and the smoke had created and Billy would be imprinted on his memory as the calming, solid...dangerous, presense laying against the hood of the ocean that he drove.

Maybe some of that calm would seep into Steve’s brain that constantly betrayed him.

So he got up, rushed out a jumbled “ _Imagoget’em_ ” and started towards the door. he reached it, opened it and when he was inside turned around, looked at Billy, forever young and laying on his thunderous ocean and waiting.

He got back down, the sounds of the kids still yelling piercing through whatever fog -peace- had surrounded him and he started, like he just woke up. 

Max’s juice. He doubled back towards the kitchen, grabbed a juice box and sprinted towards the stairs. He was climbing down when Will noticed him first letting out a “ _Steve!_ ” and then closing his mouth with a click, an apologetic look on his face when all the rugrats turned their heads towards him and started yelling. Steve gave him a little smile to let him know that it was okay.

“ My juice!” Max exclaimed and got up with the same grace her brother possessed and made her way to him, arms outstretched. When she had the plastic straw in her mouth she mumbled a quick “ _thanks_ ” to him before her voice was drowned out by Mike’s yelling as he bulldozed his way towards Steve.

“You missed all the rest of the campaign! We need your stupid character to finish this off come on!” He said petulantly as he shoved his character sheet and the dice in his hands. 

Steve looked down and gulped when he saw all the jumbled words and felt all the kids’ eyes on him. He could feel his chest constricting, the previous panic that smoke and moonlight had chased away slowly coming back to reclaim its spot.

“-umm...I”

“Max.”

A hand came up and squeezed the back of his neck. He let out a stuttered breath and turned to his left to see Billy standing there.

“ Time to get back.” he said and the kids broke out in protests and moans of “ _noooooo”_

He looked at the juice box in Max’s hands and turned to face Steve, devil’s smirk appearing.

“You their servant now, _King Steve_?” he said in a tone more teasing than mocking, tongue sweeping across his lips and eyes glinting.

“Fuck off” Steve said while rolling his eyes. He leaned back into the hand still at the back of his neck, trying to match his breaths to the rise and fall of Billy’s chest, while trying not to look like he was, like, _ogling_ the guy. “ I just got Max a juice, man”.

“Oh, so you’re her _maid_ then, huh, Harrington?” Billy went on teasing and nodded towards Max’s general direction, not taking his eyes off of Steve or letting up the pressure on his neck.

Steve looked back at Max and winked “ Your sister’s a _gift_ Hargrove” 

Billy snorted and raised a hand to point,” Baby Byers over there is a gift” he said and send a wink at Will’s direction, who promptly blushed all the way to his ears and suddenly found the tablecloth in front of him _fascinating,_ the _poor_ kid,

“Maxine” he drawled looking back between the two of them “ is a beast.” he said around a smirk that turned into a toothy grin with Max’s indignant “ _Hey!_ ”

Steve hummed and acted like he was thinking about it and then looked at Max with a conspiratory grin and pointed at her “ But she’s a badass”

“ HA!” yelled Max while raising her juice box in a toast towards Steve proudly and looked around at the rest of the boys to see if any of them cared to contest that statement. Obviously none did. Lucas nodded vigorously and agreed, Will smiled at the tablecloth while sending furtive glances Billy’s way still very much on fire, Dustin accepted the statement with grace and Mike continued to look like he had bit into a lemon.

Steve saw Billy roll his eyes playfully while the kids were busy talking over each other and looking Max’s way with a relatively fond expression he wouldn’t have been caught dead with a few months ago.

He saw Steve staring at him and winked and Steve suddenly found himself sympathizing with Will, cleared his throat and looking away.

“ Dustin we should get going too, your mom wants you back by nine.” he said with what he prayed was enough authority to sway the knuckleheads and turned to Will “ Your brother picking you up?”

“Yeah he’s coming later.” Will finally lifted his head and mumbled.

Billy suddenly took his hand off of Steve and glanced at his watch. 

“Max. Get going.” he said with finality. He looked at Steve. “ Pretty Boy.” he said with a smirk and clapped him on the shoulder as he made his way back up the stairs. Max rolled her eyes at her brother’s back, but put her shoes on, grabbed her bag, said a bye to the boys and followed him.

“I’m ready, BYE guys!!” said Dustin and started tagging at Steve’s sleeve to get him moving. Steve gave a salute that Will smiled at, Lucas returned and Mike, unsurprisingly, rolled his eyes at but nodded in their general direction so you know, _progress_ , and they started climbing up the stairs. 

They got out of the house and in the car just as Billy and Max were pulling out of the driveway and Steve stared as the blue of the Camaro slowly became one with the darkness of the horizon.

“Steve!” Dustin snapped him out of his thoughts “ Are you gonna stay for dinner, Mom made lasagna and I know you love them. You should stay and celebrate. That spell you gave Will _literally_ saved the _whole_ village” he said in a pointed and encouraging voice, “ Mike’s just an asshole don’t listen to him he’s just pissed cause El wasn’t allowed to come and Nancy’s always blowing him off and he’s jealous that she won’t play with us but you do, even if you’re new at this and you don’t really have the hung of it- but you will don’t worry, cause you’re really smart and -”

“Dustin!” Steve cut him and his flayling word vomit off “ It’s fine, it was fine, it was fun you know, it was great” he said and hoped that Dustin didn’t see through the lie even though he found himself believing it a little. Don’t get him wrong the anxiety attack wasn’t fun but the rest of the evening, listening to the kids bicker and laugh and then smoking with Billy....

yeah. It wasn’t all bad.

Dustin was looking at him expectantly beetle eyes shining in the dark, toothy grin splitting his face in two and Steve caught himself smiling back and wondering what the hell this kid ever saw in him and thought he was so cool. He found himself grateful anyway.

“ Yeah, yeah I’ll stay for dinner, kid” he said fondly and reached over and messed his hand through Dustin’s curly hair. The kid just gave him a big smile.

“Oh my God I _love_ this song!” Dustin yelled excitedly and reached to turn the radio up. Steve started driving, breathing, finally normal and hummed along with Dustin’s excited singing

_Someone told me long ago_

_There's a calm before the storm_

_I know, it's been comin' for some time._

_When it's over, so they say_

_It will rain a sunny day_

_I know, shinin' down like water._

_I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain? ...._

**Author's Note:**

> This certainly got a bit away from me!! I hope you enjoyed that and that you're safe and as okay as you can be in these times.
> 
> Comments Give Me Life.  
> Talk to me darlings I'm stuck at home  
> I'm tiggermay on tumblr  
> https://tiggermay.tumblr.com/


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